Archives for November 2015

I’m not entirely sure which rock I lived under for so many years, but I had no idea that Christmas was called “Advent” until just a few years ago.

Honest to goodness truth.

In the last 12+ months I’ve seen more in the Instagram world about Advent, and the preparation thereof than I have in my whole life {thank you, social media!}. For example, in July of this year one friend {whose husband used to work for the same company as me}, who has started an amazing Bible study group/following/ministry, was showing previews of the study she and her team were working on for this year.

I was kind of like, what’s this Advent thing all about anyway.

Well then, I’ve shared with y’all my love for the She Reads Truth app {get it!!!} and the wonderful studies that are available via your mobile {tablet, anyone?} device. And come to find out they were working on an Advent study too! This is just too good!

So when I saw →this announcement← via SRT way back in October I was super pumped. Then I got a message from a sweet sister-friend “DO NOT buy the SRT Advent study!! DON’T ask questions either! Love you!” I laughed at her and figured I knew she was up to something sneaky.

My hunch was right.

Last Wednesday I got this amazing gift of the She Reads Truth Advent Study Book and I am beyond thrilled to pieces.

It is meant to go along with the app that I will still read on my phone every morning, first thing, when I wake up. There’s no better way to start my day than with one eye open {barely}, reading scripture and getting my heart and mind ready for the day.

Um, and these molasses cookies…what the what?!Are you doing an Advent study? If so, would you share about it? If not, would you consider purchasing the SRT Advent study via their app on your mobile device (it’s a whopping $1.99!)? I promise you won’t regret it!

It’s funny how in this age of beautiful Instagram feeds that can make you feel like less than you are {it better not just be me in this statement} with perfectly perfect homes and families and what-not, I come along and show you what’s really real.

And I know that there are others like me, who aren’t afraid to show you the real, true Hollywood stories of real life with two littles….The pictures that were just two seconds before that ONE good one that made it to my Insta-feed. The drama that ensued just moments after that really sweet sibling photo that showed up on my Facebook wall….

REAL life is not all perfectly staged place-settings and floral arrangements, dogs and kids perfectly perched on the arms of beautifully adorned couches and love seats with tchotchkes galore gleaming in the background on freshly painted bookshelves. Nope, that’s not our real life…and I’ve often wondered what it’s like in those people’s lives…the behind the scenes.

Here’s a little bit of my behind the scenes, just from today.

First, know that I ADORE our two children. But the Good, Sweet, Baby Jesus Lord knows all that went down today out at the Christmas tree farm, to get the couple of good photos we’ll use for our Christmas card.

This is where Reynolds basically said “I donwannatakeaPICTURE!” and then pouted.

And then this is where he took Eliza Jane’s ornament and walked off…And tested our patience, grace and anything holy…as parents. My shadow of disappointment is there at the bottom…

This is where I realized Eliza Jane had been bitten by an ant on the top of her left foot {if you look closely, you can see it’s starting to turn red…}. That was fun. I had one of those “mom moments” of panic wondering if she’d ever been bitten before. What kind of ant was it? Was her foot going to blow up {not literally}? Was she allergic? Would she stop breathing? We were in the middle of no-where USA, how quickly could we get to an emergency room?! Yeah, that was fun.

Reynolds decided to join back in on the family “fun”….

If I put on my sunglasses, that makes me invisible….

This pretty much summed up the time out at the Christmas tree farm today…but, THANKFULLY, we have a couple of really good ones {one, maybe two} that are worthy enough for a Christmas card! :)

Then, there was the magical time of decorating the Christmas tree this evening. The tree is my thing. It’s my happy place in getting our home ready for Christmas and all that it is and represents in my heart and soul. This afternoon while the kids were napping, I was going to put the whole thing together and Andrew stopped me and said, “You don’t want to let the kids help you decorate.”

Er…um…”No?” Is that the wrong answer? I know our kids. And either it would go really well, or it would be a complete disaster and the thing that I love most about the decorating madness is my tree and I didn’t want to be disappointed…

I saved all the non-breakable ornaments for them to put on the tree. And with daddy cooking up an {amazing!} supper in the kitchen for us, Michael Bublé’s Christmas music playing on the radio, I took the wild banshees into the living room to finish the Christmas tree.

ALL that Eliza Jane wanted to do was rip off the zebra ornament…that’s it.

And once she ripped it off, she would go hide in the corner… All the while, her wonderful big brother, who was having a spectacular time, kept right on putting the ornaments on the tree. Singing “Jingle Bells” and saying, “Momma! We decorating!!”

None of it was so awful. We did laugh and there was a lot of fun. I got some good photos and we made some memories.

And, it made me realize once again that I am certainly learning about all of my flaws as a parent and realizing that I do NOT have my shiz-nit together and that without the reason for this season, Jesus, I am a failure all day long. He gives grace to the humble {James 4:6}, and my kids sure do keep me humble. I pray for ample grace. When one child refuses to cooperate. When the other does the opposite of what you request. When it seems that the day and everything in it seems to be going to H-e-doublehockeysticks in an hand-basket, I pray.

And I know that He hears. Because most of the time, once the screaming and crying is over, the kindness and love of a child’s heart almost instantly reappears. And even with giant crocodile-sized tears freshly on his face, he says he’s sorry and that he loves me.

In the moment, it can make you crazy, but those behind the scenes photos remind us that we are so incredibly far from perfect, all of us. And then one day we will certainly laugh about those photos, and some will even re-enact them :)

Be warned…what you are about to read is exactly what processed in my mind at the very moment this took place.

First, a little rewind.

We have gone non-stop since last week. It’s been one thing after another after another after another. Most of you should be able to relate to that. Some of you, that’s your daily life…

Not me.

I need moments of solitude. rest. relaxation. quiet. between the moments of go! go! go! The fear of an emotional or mental breakdown isn’t far from me if I don’t get those moments.

Last night we had an awards dinner to attend for something Andrew is involved in, with his profession. And while the event itself was fun (loud, exciting, etc.), it lasted way longer than I had anticipated. As in, we were home AFTER 11pm last night. It was a school night for crying out loud! Ha!

On top of that R woke up crying right about the time I was going to bed, around midnight, and then he started again about 1:15 this morning. He ended up in bed with us, crying that his legs were hurting him. {growing pains?}

My normal 7-ish hours of sleep was quickly dwindling to a mere 4-4.5.

I need 9. I just do…and it’s quite rare that I get more than 8.

So last night, before I came upstairs to try to go to bed, we’ll say 11:45-ish, Andrew was carving a fried turkey for my work “feast” today. {He’s such a good man}. And he says to me, “So, what do you think about us all going for Mexican tomorrow night.” {and yes, it was a statement, not a question}

Side note, Andrew’s brother, sister-in-law and nephew are in town from FL so we are trying to spend as much time with them as we can because we love them and we don’t get to see them very often.

I looked at him {exhausted already} and said, “Can we just play tomorrow by ear and see?”

It’s a short work week. Thanksgiving is Thursday. We’re cramming as much as we possibly can into this week already and I kind of felt like I just needed one night to get my head on straight. To pack and do other things that needed to be done.

So when I got the text late this afternoon…”Meet at Poncho’s at 5:30″

This is what happened.

This is a true, real-life conversation, well, thought process, that I had with a co-worker:

Mexican at 5:30

Do you know what I hear when I see that text come thru?

I have to leave in enough time to beat ALL the other parents to daycare

Scream at R about HURRY UP

Scream at all the dumb, slow people out on a joy ride at friggin 5:15 on a WEEK DAY

And the TRAINS!!! THE STUPID TRAINS!!!

to get OUT OF MY WAY

then I’m going to honk my horn

and from the back seat I’m going to hear from my precious 2.5 year old “MOVE PEOPLE!!!”

and I’m going to feel like an AWFUL mother

and I’ll be completely frazzled when I get there

and They’re going to look at me like I’m a maniac

And I’m going to say, “Where is the liquor?”

“Where is the cheese dip?”

“Why hasn’t anyone ordered cheese dip?!?!?!!?”

Co-worker said, “Your rants are EPIC.” Then asked why we were going at 5:30

I replied:

It’s b/c we have 2 small kids that we’re going at 5:30

YOU know what it’s like to try to go out to eat during the week, with your kids, AFTER work

Don’t ask me silly questions.

Y’all. I’m not a rage-a-holic. I’m not even a road-rager. But is there anyone else out there that is just like, why are all these slow-pokes on the road at 5-whatever when us crazy moms and dads are trying to get out of work as fast as we can to get to the place where our kids are to get to the next place, whether it be a restaurant, home, church, wherever? Sometimes it drives me absolutely batty.

He was outside my building at 4:50. We got to daycare, no one was there {I think God heard my little freak-out session}, kids were cooperative. We got to Firestone. MY CAR WAS READY {and y’all know that NEVER happens!}. We got across town to the restaurant by 5:25pm.

It was amazing.

I don’t even know how it happened, but it did.
Jesus loves me. And He cares about my craziness and my wild imagination that sometimes sends me over the edge. And He gave me an AMAZING moon to look at and show R tonight, getting out of the car at the restaurant. He reminded me of how insanely creative and powerful He is. He set the moon and stars in place…{Ps.8:3} And that He who created the moon and the stars, cares about little me who has all these things to do at the end of the work day…all these things to juggle and He reminds me of His power and might. And if He can create the moon and stars and set them in their courses…he can move the traffic. The trains. He can get me from point A to point B in the matter of a moment. And He can give me the rest I need.

The packing that needs to be done will wait until tomorrow, for tonight there will be rest and sleep.

Good night sweet friends. Sleep tight and may you be reminded that He who is the maker of the moon cares for you and all the things you have to do!

Y’all. I went to the library last night for the first time since we moved back to Columbia (2+ years ago!) and it was SO.MUCH.FUN!

First of all, I LOVE the library. I remember in highschool, it was a fun night when my friend Stephanie picked me up in her Bronco II to go to the library where we would sit and do research {and talk about boys} on whatever paper we were writing that week for Mrs. Kitching’s English class!

I love a thesaurus {I think I’ve confessed that before}. Someone gave me one for graduation maybe, and I love it…it’s great for Bananagramsor Scattergories…

Okay so back to last night. I took the last part of my lunch at the end of the day and left work early. Andrew agreed to get the kiddos from daycare so I knew I had plenty of time to get to our local library branch.

It was my first time going and I was giddy!

I walked up to the counter and there sat a lovely lady who had just a wonderful sense of humor, and was simply delightful.

She got me signed up for a card and told me about all the things I could do with my new membership.

Then, a lady walked in with two small boys…I looked at them and back to the lady, “How old does a child have to be to be able to get a library card?”

“Born.” was her simple reply! Then of course, she laughed. {Reynolds is going to LOVE this place, I thought!}

She asked if I needed help and I told her that if she could point me in the general direction of books for small kids {under 3}, I felt like I could take it from there. Plus, I wanted to explore just a little.

I took a deep breath, smiled and walked over to the picture books.

“This is so great! So fun!” I think I even giggled to myself as I scanned the titles and cover pictures. “Reynolds is going to have so much fun here {as will Eliza Jane…}!!”

“The board books are along the wall…the bottom two shelves”, she told me.

I made my way over to the books along the wall.

Um…a place for kids to draw and color?! Eliza Jane will love this place too!

I picked out a few books..just a few. The nice lady told me I could borrow up to SIXTY {6-0} items at one time. Holey moley. I think I only got 14 :)

So here’s probably the most exciting thing about all of this.

Besides all the options that we have at the library {movies, magazines, borrowing from other libraries, online resources, etc.}…it’s FREE!

HA! I bet you all knew/know this…

Andrew asked how much it was to rent all those books.

I looked at him like he had 3 heads, “The library is free, babe.”

“Free?”

“Yeah, you check out stuff from the library…it’s free. There’s nothing to pay.”

He seemed confused.

“You don’t have to pay anything unless you have late fees….”

“OH…that must be why I’m thinking that you have to pay for them…I must have had late fees….”

………………………………………………………………………………….

There you have it ladies and gents.

Go get you a library card, check out some great books, but be sure to return them when they are due, else you WILL have to pay something…late fees. :)

About 2 {or more…} months ago I got a wild hair and asked Andrew to put a swing in our back yard. One of those rope and wood, basic as basic can be, sorts of swings that hangs from a tree limb. We have this ginormous oak tree in our back yard and there is at least one or even two limbs that are perfect for this sort of fun!

We went to Lowe’s, he bought a ton of rope and a long wooden board.

And then life happened.

Time passed and one lone rope hung from that massive oak tree in our back yard.

Last weekend I asked Andrew to please put it together so that we could enjoy it.

This weekend it got finished {life happens EVERY day.}….and I was beyond thrilled and so were our sweet kids!

Saturday afternoon, the weather was near perfect so we got outside and while the kids played with small rakes, croquet balls and R’s plastic baseball set, Andrew and I got to work on our swing.

R took a break…”Daddy, what your doin’?”

“Daddy’s making a swing for you and sister.”

With knotted rope, it was time to shimmy that bad boy up to the limb…

Yours truly had the honor of pulling that rope down and the knot up…

This was my serious face…”GIT.UP.THAT.TREE!”

That is my “I LOVE THIS!!!” face!!

So then Sunday afternoon, Andrew finished drilling the holes in the board and pulling the rope through so that we would have a seat.

Reynolds made sure it was level for us.

It is the best thing ever.

Sorry for the blurry pictures but we were having so much fun!

Eliza Jane nearly cried when we got off, so she and I got back on the swing and went until her nose and ears were frozen {not really, but it was getting cold!}.

Our seat is long enough for Andrew and me both to sit on it {bonus!}…and one picture I didn’t get was all four of us swinging and laughing. For anyone that is doing the “30 days of Thanks”….this weekend, today and forever more I will be thankful for my husband, our kids and that swing!

No one has said anything that has crushed my spirit. No one has done anything that made me want to punch them in the face {I really wouldn’t…I just like to say that I would…}.

No, nothing really that I can pin-point.

I think the devil is trying to wear me down. Those lies that we can often shut out are creeping in a little. The inability to trust the Lord and His plan. The inability to see past the end of my very small nose.

I think that’s what it is.

Jesus tells us in Matthew that unless we have the faith of a child, we will not enter the kingdom of God.

The faith of a child.

Remember what that’s like?

I have 2 kids…both under 3. Talk about being able to see this “faith like a child”. You say it and it’s true.

They don’t understand the kidding, the facetious/sarcastic words that we often use. You say it and it’s taken at face-value.

“Go get Daddy”, Reynolds says. “Okay.” is my reply…mainly so he doesn’t loose his mind when I kiss him {hug, high-five, fist-bump and thumbs-up} and start to walk out of his room at night.

He truly believes that I’m going to get his Daddy and somehow he is fine.

I never do. But before you judge me…

I really think it’s just a “thing” for him. Side note, he does ask for me when Andrew puts him to bed…so yes, I think it’s just a thing for him.

Anyway, the kid believes you, me, whomever and what we say to him.

You say it, he believes it.

When God says that he will be our provider, do we believe Him? Reynolds would.

I say I do. But my anxious heart this week would speak otherwise.

In Jeremiah 29, we’re told that God has plans for us and that they are to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future.

I know in my pea-sized brain that He holds the past, present and future in His powerful hands. So why do I question the plan?

Romans 8:28…for my good and His glory…he uses all things.

I know these words. You probably know these words.

Just like the Israelites, my brain forgets. I quickly forget the provisions and the promises. {Exodus 16} And I beg of the Lord to increase my faith!

Exercising: Well, this is fun. Since that planktacular challenge I did – I challenged a co-worker or two in a plank hold…and now we do one every day around 4 o’clock! I’m up to 8+ minutes holding plank!

Calling: I’m not really calling anyone…texting a few peeps!

Texting: Sara, Breanna and Kelly about giving my testimony this morning {eek!} and my amazing husband to tell him how thankful I am that HE is the husband of my dreams!!! {mushy, I know…but it’s way true}.

Going: Okay so travel in the next month is going to be major…we are going to Macon two different times, I’m going to Florida for literally one night with Dana {for a conference that I am super pumped about} and then Andrew and I are going on our 5-year anniversary trip to NYC and I could not be more ecstatic about that!!!!

Loving: My husband. Our kids. This amazing life that the Lord has given me. Hey, if you need perspective, write out either your testimony or the things for which you are thankful for today.

Hating: Oh, there is just so much sadness. I hate death and sickness.

Discovering: Hidden talents?

Thinking: That there is a lot that needs to be done this week. ha!

Feeling: Tired, but that’s pretty normal. Grateful. Thankful.

Hoping for: The rain to stop. Seriously. This is day like 152 or something ridiculous. {not really}

Listening to: The rain.

Celebrating: Life. The ability to stand before friends and share the Good News.

Smelling: nothing…there’s nothing to smell here. But I have a really amazing pumpkin spice candle that I’m burning at home…and I wish it was here with me, right now…

Ordering: I need to order some wedding gifts for sweet friends! {next on the list!}

Planning: Christmas cards! My list, our photo session, etc. I’ve already picked out the card, just need a picture to order them and then get them out! {Tinyprints.com}

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